


Glittering, in Your Eyes

by LazyWriterGirl



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F, Foul Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Olivia Channels Her Inner Primrose Azelhart a Bit, Pirate AU, Robin Is A Pirate Captain, Runs a Full Tonal Marathon, The References are Mostly Passing But Still, Why Is This Oneshot So Long, depictions of violence, not particularly graphic violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 06:17:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriterGirl/pseuds/LazyWriterGirl
Summary: Stolen from her village and sold into a life worse akin to slavery, Olivia does not dare to dream that she could ever leave. The appearance of a charming young woman during one of her performances sets her on a course to a life she would never have believed possible. She can, as it would seem, have family, and love, and, despite all her beliefs that such a thing could never be possible, have revenge, as well.





	Glittering, in Your Eyes

The roar of the crowd is ever the same, and Olivia looks into the sea of faces with eyes that glitter from the light reflected off her dancing costume. Her life is this stage and the dressing room behind it, her days nothing but practice. Her nights…her nights are not her own, as they have not been since the man with the fang tattoo stole her away from her village and brought her here. 

Raucous cheers reach her ears over the strains of the opening piece, and she turns toward the unfamiliar sound. There's a large group sitting nearer to the back that she's never seen before. Sailors from the looks of them, all muscle and sun-dark skin and eyes that glint with danger. And a strangely touching appreciation for her craft.

Pirates most likely, her mind whispers as she ends the first part of her routine.

A woman sits just a little apart from the rest, closer to her, and as Olivia spins and flips and turns she watches the way the woman's dark eyes watch her. There's a familiar hunger in that gaze, but unlike the selfish eyes of men who've come and paid to steal pleasure from her at night, this woman looks at her with something else, too. She can't say what. Instead she dances, catching the woman's eye at every opportunity.

The stranger intrigues her in a way she's never felt intrigued by anything else.

As soon as she gets off the stage and slips behind the curtain, Excellus grabs her arm with enough force to bruise. "You call that a performance, wench?" His voice squeals loudly in her ears. "I've given you everything, you  _ ungrateful _ girl, and this is how you repay me? By flirting with  _ one _ patron all night?"

"I-I didn't I—" His palm cracks against her cheek.

He never hits her except for when he's awfully angry, and she wonders what he's so angry about. She'd watched the pirate woman a little more than she normally would a customer, but she'd flirted and pandered to others in the audience as well. Excellus raises his hand to slap her again, but someone says his name sharply and her fearsome master turns, frightened. She's never seen Excellus frightened before.

"Captain Grimm!"

"Hush, Excellus," says Captain Grimm—the pirate woman with the dark eyes! Olivia can barely keep from looking into them, inappropriate though it may be. "Ah, it's you. Your talent is beyond compare, Miss Olivia."

She knows she's blushing because Excellus is sneering at her from his place at the young pirate's elbow. "You are too kind, milady," she stammers. The captain's smile is fierce and rather fetching, all told.

"Ah, Captain, I  _ do _ apologize, but Olivia has a prior engagement and cannot be detained any further." His voice is terrible, simpering and sickly sweet. It drips with venom when he addresses her. "Lord Farber is paying good gold for your time this evening, girl. Don't you  _ dare _ bite him again."

Olivia shakes, much as she wants to be strong. Of all the lords and ladies who've paid for a night with her, Lord Farber is the most violent, the most degrading and disrespectful. She's never returned without a new collection of bruises or welts, or some other type of injury. Some of the other girls who've gone to his home have never returned at all.

The captain's dark eyes catch hers, and Olivia wants to ask for help, though she wouldn't.  _ Couldn't _ . Not with her master there.

She turns to go, fighting to at least keep from crying before her master and the beautiful stranger he's trying to lead away. "Wait, Miss Olivia." She turns back. Captain Grimm's dark eyes glitter with the rhythm of the lanterns on the walls. "You don't want to go, do you?"

Excellus stares at her with his mean, beady eyes, but she looks away from him when she answers, "I don't, no, not at all."

"I've heard talk of this Lord Farber," says the captain, and Olivia isn't sure who she intends to address. "He's a man of ill repute, even amongst others of that same set. I can't imagine he treats you well."

She nods dumbly, ashamed of the tears that have begun to well up in her eyes. She's worried that any more from her will mean a worse beating than the one she's already earned. Perhaps even worse than the one she’s to walk into.

Captain Grimm steps toward her and reaches out a hand. Unsure what else she could do, she takes it with one of her own. The fierce smile turns sweet, and suddenly she feels safe and almost impossible to touch.  _ Something _ is about to change.

"Excellus," the captain begins, "how much did you pay for Miss Olivia's contract?"

"Why I…" her master stops, then smiles. "Oh, but I couldn't bear to part with her, Captain Grimm. She's my shining star!"

Captain Grimm keeps her eyes fixed on Olivia's face, grasping her hand with her reassuring grip. "That isn't what I asked you, Excellus."

Olivia watches her master's face, unable to fully mask the revulsion on her own. "Two…two thousand gold, Captain," he says, and Olivia can't believe that he would lie so boldly.

She opens her mouth to speak, stopping to see what Captain Grimm thinks about it. At the slight nod of the woman's head, she says, "You lie, Master. There never was a contract!" She can't help that she begins to shake and cry a little harder, but this might be her only chance; if not to truly be free, then to win back even a small bit of the dignity that's long since been stolen from her. "I was only a  _ child _ ! You bought me from the man who kidnapped me, spent two hundred gold on my body and my life and forced into all-all  _ this _ !"

"Peace, Miss Olivia," says Captain Grimm, and there's hardness in her eyes that hadn't been there before. "You do not deserve this suffering. If you allow me, I shall end it." Captain Grimm squeezes her hand, and she knows what she has to say.

_ "Please." _

She doesn't think she's ever sounded so desperate in her life, but she asks anyway. For help. For salvation from this nightmare. No matter where she ends up after this, anything would be better.

Captain Grimm squeezes her hand one last time before letting go, turning on Excellus with her fierce smile back in place. "I find my ship in need of a dancer. Two hundred gold to settle the cost you paid when she was brought to you. Five hundred gold more to cover the cost of Lord Farber's request, which Miss Olivia will not be fulfilling, and an additional three hundred as compensation for taking your...shining star."

"Oh no, Captain Grimm, I couldn't possibly—"

"In exchange," says the captain, turning those wonderful dark eyes to Olivia again, "I would have you become a pirate. You would get to dance on grand stages no more, possibly for a long while yet, if ever. Can you abide by that, Miss Olivia?"

"Anything, if you would truly take me from this place. All these indignities…  _ anything _ ."

"Don't be so quick to promise me anything, Miss, " says Captain Grimm, and there's a twinkle in her voice that makes Olivia feel…seen. "Now, Excellus, you sorry lump of a creature, do we have an accord?" Her voice drips with dark confidence, and with an embarrassed start Olivia realizes that, for the first time in perhaps her entire life, she  _ wants _ someone. Captain Grimm, specifically, in that achingly specific way that she hasn't felt at all throughout all her years suffering in Excellus's employ.

Excellus shivers under the young pirate's gaze but nods his large, sweaty head in acquiescence. "You'll be the ruin of me, Grimm."

"One can only hope," returns the captain. Olivia can't help her smile. For once in her life, she has the champion that every girl in her position wishes for. "Miss Olivia, grab whatever things you wish to keep, please, while I settle with Master Excellus."

She rushes off to the dressing room that she and the other performers share; everything of value that she may have is in there. A few scarves she's bought herself, her mother's small, frayed portrait, and the meagre savings she's put aside from nights with some of her kinder patrons. Everything she has in the world, bundled up into the cloth bag one of the other girls had made for her; a birthday gift. One of the only ones she's ever received.

When she walks back into the corridor it's just Captain Grimm standing there. "Where did Master Excellus go?"

"He is no longer your master, Miss Olivia, but I do believe he ran off to that silly little safe of his, to put away the gold I paid him." She laughs gently, careful not to disturb the performers who begin to come out of the dressing room, off to collect their tips. Now that Olivia has an opportunity to really look at the woman's face, she's stunned, and very well pleased despite herself. The young captain has short, tousled waves of pure white hair that glow in the lantern-light, and a lovely nose and long eyelashes through which Olivia can see her gorgeous eyes, and a mouth that Olivia just wants to—"Miss Olivia?"

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to tell you to keep your chin up. After all, you are your own master now."

She knows she's blushing because of the way the captain watches her, the hungry, yet human look in the other woman's eyes once again. "And I have you to thank for that, Captain," she says, trying to keep a sense of calmness in her voice despite the excitement hiding in her chest. After all, she's free now.  _ Free _ !

Excellus returns to bid his "favourite" farewell, even going so far as to tell her, in his sickening, simpering voice, that she "will always have a place on this stage".

With a pleasure greater than anything she's ever known, she looks him in the eye, unafraid of his gaze for the first time in her life. "This is the last night I ever belong to you, Excellus. Never forget that."

Captain Grimm's eyes glitter merrily as the pair of them walk away.

* * *

They're greeted by cheers and whistling when they step aboard a lovely ship—"The Shattered Rose, finest ship of her class." She shies away instinctively from men and women alike, hanging as closely as she can to her captain and saviour. "Oh, you lot are scaring the poor lass, give her some space," says a man with moss-dark hair and kind green eyes.

"Thank you, Stahl," says Captain Grimm. "Now listen, you silly things, this is Miss Olivia, whose dance performance you all enjoyed this evening."

The shipful of pirates whoops and cheers, bringing Olivia a feeling of being appreciated that is both unfamiliar and pleasant. There's something open in their gregarious laughter, in the applause coming from their hands. She's not sure she has a name for it.

"Now then, Miss Olivia," says Captain Grimm, and the crew quiets down so as not to muffle their leader's words, "I did say that I would make a pirate of you, but now that that toad Excellus is not present, I shall ask more politely." She smiles, easy and unlike anything Olivia has seen from her yet, "Where do you want to go from here? My ship is fast, and my crew the best bunch of sorry excuses for pirates that you ever shall find. Anywhere in the world that you want, I can take you there."

Tears creep into the corners of her eyes again. Captain Grimm can take her anywhere, but with little money and fewer connections, anywhere she might choose would be dangerous; masters worse than Excellus, rich nobles worse than Lord Farber…no. She does not want to return to that life. Not ever. 

And besides, for the moment at least, what she wants is the woman offering her the kind of freedom she has not had in seven, almost eight years.

"I…I want to go where you do, Captain Grimm." She knows it's presumptuous, that any of the men or women aboard the ship may have already claimed the place by the captain's side, but… "I want-I want to stay by your side."

"Then that is what you shall do." The crew bursts into cheers and whistles again, as Captain Grimm smiles at her. "Come then, Miss Olivia, you must be tired. You shall rest in the captain's quarters tonight," she turns to her crew as they cheer louder, a mock scowl on her face, "not like that, you absolute  _ dogs _ ."

She's too busy blushing to notice how the woman barks out a few orders, nodding to a bouncy redhead as she offers Olivia an arm. The captain guides her to the captain's cabin, and as the door closes, Robin laughs. The cheering and laughter of the crew outside doesn't end until the pirates begin their work, and then a song rises from their throats, one voice as the Shattered Rose sails out to sea. Olivia stands in the doorway, unsure, watching carefully as Captain Grimm shrugs off her heavy coat, tossing her hat onto a handsomely appointed desk.

Now that the euphoria produced by her rescue has lessened somewhat, she's not sure why she's so certain of her safety.

"You needn't fear me, Miss Olivia," says Captain Grimm, smiling in her easy, charming way. "I promise you, neither I nor any of my crew shall harm you. You have suffered far more than any one person should."

"You aren't exactly what I imagined pirates to be," she says by way of continuing the conversation. At the captain's gesturing, she takes a seat. Not on the cot in the corner of the room—she's sure that's  _ presumptuous _ at best—but in a chair across from what looks like a sort of throne. The captain's seat, no doubt. "I mean, the gold and the earrings and all of that, yes, but…your manner…"

"We're rather more like…gentlefolk-pirates, shall I say?" says the captain, "Though of course, to win stories of their origins from my crew, you will need to earn their trust." The woman reaches into her desk and pulls out a bottle of wine, and a fine chalice trimmed with silver and gold. On instinct, Olivia reaches for it, prepared to pour, but the woman shakes her head. "No, no, allow me."

The wine is a fine dark colour, and Olivia can barely contain her surprise at being handed the chalice, "Oh, Captain Grimm, I couldn't!"

"Please, do, if you would like," says the captain, "To celebrate your freedom. I shall drink too, if you would prefer the company."

She would, actually, and so she nods. Captain Grimm smiles and pulls another chalice from somewhere on her side of the desk. "And Miss Olivia, please, do call me Robin, at least in private. None here are so formal with me as you."

Olivia quivers a little at the invitation. She's  _ never _ been allowed to call anyone by their name alone, aside from her fellow performers. Even in their play with her, the nobles had insisted on a veneer of propriety; their power over her, as with everything else. "I-I…um. Alright…Robin."

"There we are," Robin says, and the name suits her more than Olivia might have thought had she learned of it from someone else. "Now. You mentioned that you were…sold. By the man who kidnapped you?"

"Yes but I…"

"If you would rather not talk about it, I apologize." Robin takes a sip of wine, and Olivia realizes she hasn't touched hers.

She takes the chalice Robin had placed in front of her and drinks, allowing herself, for once, to simply enjoy the wine. Robin's lovely dark eyes remain on hers all throughout, and Olivia decides that, if her story must be told, then Robin shall be the first to hear it.

"I was eleven years old when a strange man came to my village. It was a small place, nothing noteworthy and hardly somewhere for people to visit. My mother was sickly, and I was the one tasked most with her care…" she trails off, touching the locket at her throat. The one thing she's held onto from her first home after all these years, aside from her mother’s portrait.

Robin's eyes are not filled with pity, but an empathy that she has never seen. "If you would rather not…"

"I'm fine. You should know…what you saved me from," she says, holding Robin's gaze though the memory of her shame still burns. "One night, as I was fetching water from the well, the man who'd come to our village took me…all I remember of him is that he had a tattoo on his neck, a necklace of fangs. Excellus…seemed to know him."

"Miss Olivia…"

She's too deep into the emotion of things to stop now, so she only shakes her head and continues. "They met in person a few days later, at the inn the man had taken me to. I was exchanged for a sack of gold." Olivia shudders at the memories of what followed the exchange. "I have never since seen the man again, though there have been patrons with that same tattoo." None of which had been talkative, before or after getting what they wanted from her.

"Please, I…" Robin stops herself. "If you wish to say anything more about…what it was like, know that you have a friend in me. Now, or at any time in the future."

She considers it, but it's all still too raw. "Maybe some other time…but thank you."

Robin nods, and her eyes take on a focused, contemplative glow. "A necklace of fangs around his neck. Hm." The glittering light in her eyes feels inexplicably angry now, and some small part of Olivia wants at least a bit of that anger to be for her sake. "Well, Miss Olivia, I promise you that you shall have your revenge on that man. I swear to it, and shall help you in any way I can."

"You have done more than enough for me, Robin!"

The captain grins, sharp and attractive in a way that  _ should _ be more dangerous, but isn't. "Perhaps." She rises, bidding Olivia a good night. Olivia turns in her chair as the other woman reaches the cabin door.

"Robin?"

"Yes?" Oh, that smile. Those eyes. Olivia can see herself falling and knows that she shouldn't.

"Thank you. Truly."

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


She's been asea for a few months and feels almost entirely different from the woman she'd been before meeting Robin. The crew of the Shattered Rose had been careful with her, at first, almost shy. Now, however, they've come to feel like her family.

"Morning, Livvy!" calls the first mate, Anna, from the helm. "Slept well, yeah?"

Olivia, glad that the other woman has taken a shine to her so easily, can't help but smile. "Yes, thank you! You as well?"

Anna nods and grins, whistling as she guides the ship along the waves. She's one of Robin's favourites on the crew, and Olivia likes her all the more for that. Well, that, and her comedically greedy nature. "Stahl's making something for breakfast, by the way. Be sure to eat, right?"

"I will!"

The redhead's grin broadens, and Olivia braces herself for what's coming. "Good lass! The captain does like her women a  _ bit _ fuller, you know!"

Olivia's cheeks burn all the way down to the galley. Gaius, a thief with possibly the brightest hair she's ever seen, smirks at her as she walks past. "Anna say somethin' to ya again?"

She groans and nods, shoving his arm lightly when he only laughs in response. The one problem with this newfound family of hers is that she can't just have her feelings for Robin in peace. And  _ oh _ , how difficult those feelings are to ignore, with how much time she and Robin spend together. There are the sword lessons that she's taken to with an adeptness that surprises her more than anyone else; the nights spent talking as she joins the captain for the night watch; the way Robin watches her whenever they have a spare moment and the crew asks her to dance for them.

She's never felt this way before.

"Good morning, Olivia," says Cordelia, the ship's navigator, another redhead and favourite of Robin's. "How are you? Come, sit with us." Maribelle, the ship's surgeon, is already seated at Cordelia's side on the bench, so Olivia sits across from the redhead. She's praying for her blush to die down before Maribelle notices, but the woman's eyes are sharper than a hawk's.

"Donny," Maribelle says, "be a dear and get Miss Olivia some water, wouldn't you?"

Robin's newest cabin boy scrambles to get a glass and fill it, and Olivia takes it with a smile. He's a sweet boy, Donny, and probably the least threatening male presence she's ever come across in her entire life.

"Now then, darling," Maribelle begins, and not for the first time does Olivia wonder how the woman became a pirate when she looks and speaks and acts the way she does. "How goes your suit with our dear Robin?"

"S-suit?!"

"Mari, please, don't frighten the poor girl," Cordelia says, though there's a certain mischief in her eyes as she chastises her wife. "In all honesty, though, Olivia, you haven't said anything?"

"I…I'm not so brave, I  _ couldn't _ …I…"

"Why ever not, darling?" Maribelle asks, and there's a genuine confusion in her voice that Olivia can't make sense of. "Why, you're certainly one of the bravest women I've ever met! And Robin, she's awfully fond of you. Fonder than I've ever seen her be for anyone else."

"She's right, you know. Even fonder than she is of Tharja, Anna, and Henry, and they all grew up together."

Olivia flushes at their observations. She hadn't really noticed anything that could mark Robin's attention to her as anything particularly special. Then again, she's also never been in a sitauation where there exists possibility for more than one-sided sex. "You really think so?"

Cordelia and Maribelle exchange looks that she can't understand, and Maribelle takes her hand with a sigh. "Darling, even Vaike can tell, and he's the most obnoxious, boneheaded fool of a man I've ever met, on and off this ship."

"Mari's harshness aside, it's true. I've seen Robin in lust before, and I've seen her infatuated, too. The way she looks at you, though?" Cordelia shakes her head. "It's both of those things, and more…unlike anything I've ever seen from her before."

"She hasn't said anything to me, though," Olivia says. It comes out in a more sullen tone than she's expecting it too, but she can't help that she really is upset. Robin is gallant and chivalrous no matter what she does; surely she would have said something by now?

The resulting peals of laughter that burst from Maribelle's mouth make her smile despite herself. "Oh, darling, no!"

Cordelia sighs lovingly, patting her wife's back as her laughter turns into a coughing fit. "Water, sweetheart." She turns her attention to Olivia after a minute, her head tilted as if she's wondering if she should say what she's thinking. "The only reason Robin hasn't said anything to you is because she wants it to be your choice. Because you want it, and not because you feel that you have to…"

She knows it's silly, but the fluttery sigh that escapes her is an accurate representation of her feelings "How wonderful…"

"What is?" Robin asks, dropping onto the bench beside her with the easy grin that Olivia loves—likes, not loves, likes…although really who is she kidding?

Olivia's skin burns all over as she stutters her way through an excuse that Robin accepts with that same fantastic look on her face. She laughs at something Cordelia says, making a point to ask Olivia for her opinion. Olivia's heart beats harder in her chest than it ever does when she's dancing.

"Oh, and we're nearing port, Captain," says Cordelia, always one to mix in just a little work with her pleasure. The title sounds more like an endearment. "Shall I fly the Plegian colours already?"

"You should really let Donny do it, but yes," Robin says, and there's a sparkle in her voice as she says it. "Dear Henry is too excited to be of much use at the moment, so I'm relieving him of duty in the crow's nest, much as he loves it. Speaking of which, would you mind going up there later, Olivia?"

Olivia flushes, glad that they've come to the point where Robin thinks them close enough that she can drop the "Miss", but she's never been up in the crow's nest before. Her trepidation must show, but she finds her voice enough to say, "I've never d-done it, but I'd be happy to!" She almost adds a "for you" at the end, but manages to keep herself calm.

Robin smiles at her, though her eyes widen as she realizes what Olivia's said. "Oh…in that case, please, don't trouble yourself! The crow's nest can be…unpleasant, not that this is punishment at all, mind you, but I can't think to send you up there when you've not done it before." Robin shakes her head, "My mistake, and my apologies. I do appreciate your eager approach to work, though, so thank you for that."

"Why don't you show her what to look for up there, Captain?" Maribelle asks, her grin crafty. Olivia doesn't know if she'd rather hug or hurt the woman. "You  _ do _ seem to be an effective teacher for our Miss Olivia."

Robin laughs, her joy tingeing her cheeks a pretty pink. "Well, I don't know about that, but…Olivia? Would you want me to come up to the crow's nest with you?"

She doesn't miss the way Maribelle smiles, or the way Cordelia nods encouragingly at her. Drawing in a deep breath, she puts on her most dazzling smile and hopes that Robin can see why she's doing it. "I'd love that, Captain."

Maribelle coughs daintily behind her hand and Cordelia only hums smugly when Robin's ears turn bright red. It's a cute look. Olivia can't help but giggle, inclining her head to the redhead and the blonde across the table.

Perhaps they're right after all.

  
  
  


She's not sure if she's simply lucky, or if her background as a dancer helps with seasickness, but she rather enjoys the crow's nest from the first moment she climbs up and into it. It's a proper platform with a wooden railing all about it, and there's precious little room to really move when there are two people in it. Not that she minds being as close to Robin as she is.

"Fairly simple, all told," Robin says as she finishes up her brief explanation of what being on duty in the crow's nest entails. "It's mostly a tedium for the crew, though a necessary one, and Henry is usually the only person who  _ actually _ wants to be up here."

"It's perfect up here," Olivia says, blushing when she realizes how forward that sounds. "I…um, I mean, the sea and sky are so beautiful, don't you think?"

"Today, yes," Robin says, "the view up here is particularly beautiful today." The tenderness on her face almost makes Olivia want to cry. No one has ever looked at her this way. She doesn't want anyone else to.

_ Oh, perfect, Olivia. _ She's gone and fallen in love with her captain, and if she does not say so now, she is a fool.

After all those years of Excellus calling her one, she cannot allow it to be true.

"Robin?"

"Yes?"

"I…" she swallows, hoping that Robin won't think less of her for how shy she's so quickly becoming. "I…must confess…for all the experience I have, I…"

Robin looks askance at her, offering a hand that Olivia gladly takes. "Be calm, Olivia, it is just you and I here."

Olivia breathes in the scent of the sea and the sun, of Robin's hair and the oil she dabs on her wrists and neck, tinged with a hint of the spiced ale that Robin always buys for her crew but never drinks, herself. In these last few months, she's come to smell like the home Olivia always wanted. Even before Excellus, before the tattooed man, she's never felt so safe as she does now.

"I've been in love with you forever…I only wish I had the courage to tell you sooner!"

Robin's smile is brighter than the sun itself. 

"I love you, Olivia, and you do not have to apologize. The joy you've given me today…it is unlike anything I've ever known." Robin cups her face and leans in, and for the first time Olivia wants a kiss more than anything else in the world. Before their lips can touch, however, Robin pauses, her breath warm and so  _ close _ to Olivia's mouth.

"Robin?"

"I do love you, Olivia. So dearly, and nearly from the first time we met." Robin does not pull away, though her arms do loosen slightly at their place around Olivia's waist. "But I do not want for you to feel beholden to me…you are under no obligation to—

She kisses Robin as the gulls soar above them and the ship rocks below, bringing them ever closer to the Plegian port. It is the sweetest moment in her life, without question. "I have never been brave, nor have I ever been much allowed to choose for myself, but you…I choose you. Your actions may have been the reason for my freedom, but with that freedom I have fallen in love with you, willingly and completely and without any reservation."

Something glitters in Robin's eyes. Tears, to match her own. "Tears of happiness? You're making me soft, Olivia."

She can only laugh through her tears as Robin kisses her again, the pair of them a single pulse above the rest of the world.

  
  


* * *

She had not known what to expect of a pirate wedding.

It is at once the most magical night of her life, and the most difficult. To swear her love to Robin alone is easy. To declare it to a crowd of people, even those she considers family?

It is a test of ever bit of bravery she possesses.

The words come easier than she'd feared they might, and when Robin's eyes sparkle with tears of joy, Olivia can't believe her luck. This woman is her wife, now. She's accepted Olivia for her past, bound their lives together in the present, and promised her a future the likes of which she had never dared to dream.

"Oi, lovebirds, give a kiss then!" calls Vaike from his seat in the middle of the haphazard rows of chairs, upturned crates, and barrels. 

"Five lashes for being impertinent with your captain,  _ Teach _ ," her wife jokes, and Vaike's loud guffaws are lost in the applause. "I love you," Robin whispers against her lips.

"I love you, more than I ever thought I could love anyone," she whispers back. If she could freeze the moment, keep them caught in this perfect happiness forever, she would. Because she can't however, she settles for pressing as close to her wife as she can.

The party begins in earnest only minutes later, and Olivia loses herself in the sea of smiles, dancing with joy she's never felt before. Everyone offers their congratulations as the ship rolls beneath them, swaying on the open ocean in time to the stamping of their feet. she twirls around studious Miriel and kindly, quiet Kellam, gliding around Vaike and Gaius with a smile.

She dances with sweet-hearted Donny and gets swept in a circle by sleepy-eyed Stahl, the dance one more of joy than of grace. Little Nowi kisses her hands when they meet, and Tiki, Cherche, and Sully smile, ribald jokes dancing on their tongues on their tongues. Cordelia and Maribelle kiss her cheeks, whispering their praises and congratulations, and even silent, serious Panne trades her usual nod for a smile.

She dances past them all, only to land in Anna's arms. Tharja and Henry hover nearby, serene smiles on their normally tricky faces. Almost as one, they nod to her, and Anna whispers in her ear, "Be good to her, and be sure that she is good to you."

"Thank you," she says, beyond pleased to be accepted by the people her wife loves so well. Anna grins and twirls her twice, three times, and then she's off again. Flavia catches her and takes a step, then two, and they both laugh when Lon'qu's elbow grazes her skin and he freezes. Her smile has never been so wide, nor has it ever lasted so long.

One final spin sees her back in Robin's arms, and her wife beams, eyes glittering as she dips Olivia with languid grace. "There you are, my love."

"Here I am," she says as Robin pulls her upward, into a sweet embrace. More cheers resound all around them and she giggles from the beautiful freedom of it all. "I love you, and this…it's beyond my wildest dreams!"

"You should dream more wildly, then, my love, else making your dreams come true won't prove a challenge fit for the likes of the  _ great _ and  _ fearful _ Captain Grimm."

"Aye, Captain!" She closes her eyes, enjoying the peace her wife brings. 

Robin kisses her forehead, and each eyelid, and the tip of her nose. "My wonderful, brave, darling Olivia." She can feel the love with which Robin speaks her name. "Whatever did I do to deserve you?"

She doesn't speak the obvious, sensing her wife's reluctance to name the events of almost a year ago. Instead she opens her eyes, fixing Robin with the tenderest look she can. "You have been yourself, Robin, and I love you more with everything I learn about you. I am yours, soul, mind, and body." Giggling at her wife's blush, she leans in close, standing on tiptoe to reach Robin's ear. "Tonight, I hope you'll let me show you how much I mean that."

That they've not had their pleasure of each other had been Robin's suggestion, agreed upon, for no reason other than that Olivia should not have felt it a requirement of their relationship. Olivia appreciates her wife's wisdom for the chance it has given her to reclaim ownership of the body that, for so long, had not felt like her own. 

But now? The time has come, and she has found herself yearning for Robin's touch for so  _ long _ . To give this to her wife, the thing that she had never wanted for herself until now.

Robin gulps in air, the embarrassment plain on her face "I am yours, my love."

Olivia giggles again, finding courage in the way her wife's eyes trail over her. Nervous and perhaps even shy, but hungry as the night they were when they first met. "I was  _ so _ hoping you'd say that."

She and Robin sneak into the captain's quarters as the party rages on, and she locks the door behind them herself. When it's just the two of them she can be far more bold, and even despite the music and laughter just outside, she can only see herself and Robin, and their cot, dappled faintly in moonlight

Robin's kisses warm her all over, but she has a plan for their first night together. It's been turning in her mind for a while now, over and over, and now that the moment has come, she can barely keep herself held back. Robin moves to help her out of the dress they'd bought specifically for the wedding, but she takes her wife's hands in her own, kissing each much loved palm, and guides Robin over to her throne.

"You have taken care of me every step of the way, my love," she says, crooning in her wife's red-tipped ear. "Now I think it's my turn to take care of you." She moves slowly, settling herself in Robin's lap as she pushes her wife's coat from her shoulders. Robin squirms underneath her and, just for fun, she grinds down with her hips, just a little, delighting in Robin's wide-blown eyes.

"Olivia, you don't have to—

"Shh," she whispers, placing a kiss along her wife's jaw. "I have these skills, for better or worse." She pauses at her wife's ear again, enjoying how Robin feels, trembling beneath her like that. "I may as well use what I've learned to please the woman I love. Don't you agree?"

"I…I-I suppose you have a…a point."

"Perfect," Olivia breathes, each quickened pulse more fuel for the fire burning within her. "Now lie back and relax, my love."

Robin's sighs soon replace all other sounds, and Olivia discovers a different sort of music to dance to.

  
  
  


A knock is what wakes them both, firm, but polite. "Captain? We're a quarter hour from Mila. Are we to dock there, or should we continue to Port Rosanne?"

Robin rubs her eyes lazily, and Olivia kisses her wife's shoulder, coaxing her awake as she plays with her hair. When Robin speaks, she sounds wide awake. "Let's dock in Mila for a while, Cordelia. We all could use some time, I think."

Olivia can hear the smile in Cordeila's voice. "But of course. Oh, and good morning, Olivia."

"Good morning!" she calls back. Robin's eyes are soft and half-lit in the patches of sunlight that bounce in through the porthole. "And good morning to you, my Robin." Her wife's heartbeat jumps at the sound of Olivia's voice.

"Hello, my love." Robin smiles, turning so that she can fold Olivia into her arms. "My wife," Robin murmurs, kissing the corner of her mouth. "My wonderful Olivia."

She can feel a blush spreading across her entire body at such focused attention, and with a happy sigh she cuddles closer to her wife, knowing that if they don't get up soon Cordelia will only knock again. Or she’ll send Maribelle, which would be  _ worse _ . "Much as I don't want to, we really should get ready."

"Right you are," Robin says, and Olivia almost tells her not to get up when she rolls off the cot.

Instead, she lies on her side, watching her wife pull on smallclothes, then breeches, and a tunic that does little to cover the marks Olivia's mouth had made only hours ago. "They're going to tease you something dreadful, you know."

"I know. But they'll find  _ you _ funnier to tease, my love."

"Oh…!"

Robin laughs, dropping a kiss on her hair as she reaches for her hat. "Don't you worry, they'll leave you be if you tell them you're truly uncomfortable."

Somehow she doubts that, but it's all good-natured. She can't say she really minds. "Now then, Captain Grimm, do you want to go out first, to greet your adoring crew?"

"And waste a moment without my beloved wife? Not a chance of that, not for all the world!"

Olivia laughs as her wife pulls her up, dancing with her about the cabin as Olivia stumbles into her smallclothes. She slides into a pair of dark leggings and one of Robin's tunics—on her, it's essentially a dress.

"You look beautiful as ever, Mrs. Grimm," Robin says as she ties her hair back. "Like a dashing, daring pirate queen!"

"Not so dashing as you, my love, nor as daring by half."

"Ah, but more beautiful by far, you  _ must _ admit."

She's about to offer a rebuttal to that when there’s a knock at their door, again. " _ Do _ forgive me for interrupting your rather adorable post-nuptial, post-coital banter, Captain, but you'll be needed soon. We're docking."

"Yes of course, thank you, Maribelle." Robin turns to her, the dark eyes she loves so much glittering with mirth. "Well then, Olivia, are you ready?"

Having little idea of what to expect, she nods.

"That's my girl."

The very moment they step out of the cabin, the crew, all assembled around them like a group of excited children, bursts into whoops and cheers. She knows she must be blushing, but they seem so genuinely happy she can't help it. Robin shakes her head, laughing. "Why, animals, all of you! None of you have headaches?"

"The headache only starts if ya  _ stop _ drinking, Captain!" Vaike roars and a hearty round of laughter rises.

"Quiet down, the dockmaster's coming!"

"Hang the dockmaster! Mila's used to us by now!" Vaike says, laughing in the same boisterous guffaws.

Maribelle pokes him with the tip of her parasol. 'Yes, please continue to speak that way, Vaike. Perhaps the dockmaster will finally see the sense in throwing you in gaol for the night."

Vaike doesn't stop laughing, turning to Maribelle with a sly smile on his face as he rubs his bruised ribs. "Aw, lookin' out for me, Miss Belle? Cordy, I think yer wife has a crush on me!"

"I should certainly doubt that. She's a woman of refined tastes, after all." Cordelia kisses her wife as the rest of them burst into laughter again, and Robin slips through the crowd to greet the dockmaster. Olivia follows, too proud of her wife, in her fine hat and coat, to want to look at anyone else.

"G'mornin' Cap'n Grimm!" says the dockmaster in a broad, port town kind of accent. "Been a lil' o'er a year now, en't it? Almos' forgot 'ow…loud some a yers can be."

"Oi, 'ow's things, ol' boy?" Vaike says, his tone full of mocking.

"This 'un en't dead yet, Cap'n?" asks the dockmaster, shaking his head. "No matter. Anyway, what's brought ye?"

"Oh, we're just long overdue for something of a rest," Robin says, and Olivia leans in when her wife's arm circles about her waist. "And we're celebrating."

The dockmaster's open, kindly smile falls on her. "Ah! A lovely lass indeed, Cap'n! Well done! An' what's yer name, Missus?"

She blushes, but manages to say, "Olivia Grimm," before looking away.

"Lovely," says the dockmaster. "Awright then Cap'n Grimm, I'll just 'ave ye sign this paper 'ere an' then yer free to enjoy yer time in Mila."

Robin reads the documents he hands her, signing off in her bold, expressive hand. "Pleasure as always." The dockmaster turns to leave, smiling at them and scowling at Vaike as he makes his way over to the ship beside them. "Okay then, you lot," Robin says, "Behave yourselves. If you plan on leaving Mila, tell me. And be back on this ship within a fortnight, ready to set sail."

"Aye, Captain!"

Robin moves aside for her crew to walk off the ship first, and Olivia flushes as each person once again gives their warm congratulations. Tharja even smiles, just a little, and says, "Henry and I are going to make you a safety charm."

"I'm grateful," she says.

"Don't be," Tharja replies, snickering as she turns away. Robin laughs and squeezes her close, telling her not to be worried. She isn't, mostly. Sort of.

Once the last of the crew is gone, she and Robin turn to each other, and she's grateful for how in sync they've become over the last year. "And what shall we do now, Mrs. Grimm?" Robin asks, and the smile on her face is delightful in its joy. Olivia could look at it forever.

"I don't know. As long as I'm with you I…" she loses track of what she's saying surprised that she should be so bold in the middle of the day.

Robin takes one of her hands and kisses it, the picture of gallantry. "You may say anything you like, suggest anything you like. Anything. Anything at all."

"Don't be so quick to promise me anything, Captain," she teases, finding courage enough to wink at her wife to accent the borrowed words.

Robin laughs, spinning her around. "Ah, my clever wife, what wisdom and wit! You remembered those words?"

"I remember everything you tell me as best I can," she says.

"I am blessed to have you," Robin answers, "but truly, I do not know of any one thing I would prefer to do right now. Do you have any ideas?"

Olivia blinks against the harsh rays of the sun, then smiles. "Well then…ship's ours, maybe I could—

She doesn't have to say the thought that's just popped into her head, as Robin picks her up and kisses her soundly as she carries her back to their cabin.

  
  


* * *

It's Henry who spots the man with the tattoo first, a few days after their arrival in Mila. He's his usual bright-eyed, cheery, silently suffering self as he recounts the details, though she does notice how his eyes, full of concern, shift over to her when he thinks she's not looking. Olivia watches her wife's face, unsurprised when she can't quite tell what Robin is thinking; after all, loving wife and caring captain are only two sides to who her wife is.

"Chances are he's come on a ship, else we would have noticed him sooner." Robin's dark eyes glitter with something sharp and wild. "Henry, take Anna and survey the ships docked in the area. Have Gaius find Tharja, I want them to try to keep a tab on the man with the necklace of fangs."

Henry nods, stiff and angrier than usual for him.

Olivia doesn't realize she's shaking until they're alone again, and Robin's hands are on her shoulders. Her wife's gaze is fierce and tender, angry and loving all at once. "You remember everything I've ever told you?"

"I-I…I try to, yes," she stammers out, far more shaken than she thinks she should be, all things considered. It's been ten years, or near enough, but the mere thought of the man who'd stolen all that time from her by selling her to Excellus…it hurts her far more than she'd thought it would, given how far she's come.

"Olivia?"

"Yes?"

The concern in Robin's lovely eyes only makes Olivia love her wife more. "That night we met, I promised you that I would see you have your vengeance, did I not?"

"You did," she says, and she can feel her pulse beat in time with her wife's rising anger. "You swore it."

"And pirate though I may be, have I not proven a woman of my word?"

Olivia can only nod, the chock and her tears choking the word from her throat. Robin's hands leave her shoulders, coming up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "There, there, my love. Give leave to these tears. I shall find the man you seek, and you  _ shall _ have your vengeance."

She knows it has already been promised her, but she cannot stop herself from seeking such a promise again. "Do you swear to that, Robin? As you did once before?"

"Of course, my love. You will have what I have promised you. I swear it."

She doesn't know quite how much time she spends in tears after that, but when Tharja and Anna arrive, Tharja with news of the man and Anna with news of the ship on which he'd arrived, she instead turns her sorrow into anger. She  _ will _ have her revenge.

  
  
  
  


* * *

Vaike stands on the deck of the Shattered Rose, waving his arms about frantically. "Oi! Robin! Are ya not seein' this?"

"Hey Vaike, don't go disrespecting the captain just 'cause you're scared shiteless, you great big git!"

"Oh shuddup Stahl, and go find my axes! Captain! Captain?!"

Maribelle scoffs, shaking her golden ringlets at the man's screaming. "Vaike, do stop shouting at the captain, for Naga's sake!"

"Awright, Miss Belle, I'll stop, except  _ not _ 'til our captain explains herself! Oi, Captain?!"

"Vaike, stop shouting," Anna says, calmly, as if it were just another day at sea.

"There's a great bloody sea monster out there and you want to sail us right into the blasted thing?! Have ya finally lost it, Robin?"

"I trust that the captain has calculated all possibilities and has determined that pursuit of our quarry, despite the presence of that monstrosity, is the most profitable and preferred course of action," Miriel chides, observing Vaike's antics with her usual disinterested scientific interest.

"Yer all crazy!"

Olivia listens to the ruckus going on around her, but she barely hears a thing. Her wife is her main concern. Her wife, the captain of the Shattered Rose, who'd looked at Olivia with her kind eyes on the day they first met and promised that the man who'd taken her away from her home would pay.

Her wife's eyes gleam golden.

They should be dark brown.

"Robin?"

The other woman doesn't hear her, either. She simply stares off into the distance, at the man's retreating ship. A large monster of unknown breed or origin rises up out of the water as Olivia watches, howling and roaring and causing a general ruckus. 

Robin doesn't say anything, only keeps her eyes on the ship, as if she can't see the monster at all. Of late, she's been even more protective than usual, but there's something else, too. Something dangerous. Not for Olivia, no, nor for anyone else on their crew, whom Robin loves…but there truly is something dangerous. For anyone who crosses Robin or the Shattered Rose.

Most dangerous of all for the man with a necklace of fangs tattooed to his neck.

If she's right, if that's all it is, then part of her doesn't want to interfere, doesn't want to act until she's called to; her vengeance has been promised from the day they met, after all, and if Olivia's wife wants to deliver it to her than she can think of no greater gift. And the suffering she'd endured, the dishonour she'd had to survive, all of it sears hot in her mind. But if she's wrong, if there's something else…

"Captain? I hate to side with  _ Vaike _ , of all people, but are ya sure?" Stahl asks, his sleepy eyes slightly more alert than usual.

Robin stares out toward the ship one more time, eyes tracking the movement of whatever manner of beast it is that's chasing their target. When she turns back to her waiting crew, she nods. Her eyes are brown.

"You heard me. After them! I want to catch the Yearling, now!"

No one thinks to question her when she's like this, tousled white hair wild and glowing with the sunlight. Olivia watches their crew clamber over ropes and under sails as they make the necessary adjustments. "My love," Robin begins, her eyes full of the affection Olivia knows so well, "perhaps you should wait in the cabin?"

"I'm not a damsel, Robin," she says gently. And she certainly isn't despite her timidity. The swords she wears at her hip are no mere ornaments. "I can fight, too! You taught me yourself, didn't you?"

Robin laughs, cupping her cheek with one gloved hand. "Of course, my love, I know you can. But this creature looks to be another matter…"

"If you're going to face it, so will I," she says, hoping that her wife will give in already. She doesn't like to have to resort to pouting, but she will if that's what it takes. Thankfully, Robin seems to understand that she's not about to let things go so easily.

"When did you last sharpen your swords, my love?"

"Last night," she says, "while you were laying out plans for the ambush."

Robin laughs. "I should have known you would. Very well then. But you keep yourself safe, before  _ anybody _ else. Do you understand?"

Olivia nods, because it's the least she could agree to. Not that she'll listen, if it really comes down to it, but still.

"Who else will be boarding?"

Robin looks to her crew, sizing each of them up. Some, like Panne, Tiki and Nowi, seem entirely unperturbed at the sight of the monster, large and terrible and baying for blood like some deranged hell beast. Then again, none of them are entirely human, so there's that to consider. And then there are the brave ones. Cordelia and Anna and Kellam. Olivia watches her wife turn to each member of her crew, knows what sort of checklist she's going through in her head.

"Tiki, Nowi, Panne," she says, obviously proud when they step smartly forward, "are you three good to subdue that creature?"

Something gleams in Tiki's eyes, something she can't quite understand. "Subdue, and not injure, Captain?"

Robin's grin is sharp. "Aye. If we can find a use for the beast, we might as well, don't you agree?"

Something passes between the four of them that Olivia can't quite understand, but they all seem to be in accord, so she doesn't think it's anything to worry about. At least, not at this time. "And for the sailors on the ship?"

"They're mercenaries, and fairly well-armed. I think six to start, in addition to you and I," Robin says, and she's already looking at her crew for volunteers, as she always does in difficult situations. "Keep in mind that you will not be engaging the monster, but you will be close to it."

Cordelia steps forward, and Olivia isn't surprised. Maribelle steps up beside her wife, her hands glowing. Lon'qu sighs and steps forward along with Stahl, and Olivia wonders, not for the first time, what's going on between the two of them, quiet as they both are. Anna jumps into the line up, causing Robin to laugh, and the boarding party is complete when Kellam shuffles forward, the harpoon he never seems to be without gleaming in the sun.

She can’t say she remembers him coming back aboard, but she’s certainly glad to see him.

"Why not all of us, Captain?" Vaike asks.

"Because it isn't necessary at this time," she says. "And besides, I need people here, manning the guns and crossbows, aye?"

"Aye, Captain," he says, and Olivia knows he'll be sulky until the battle begins. Then, he'll be enjoying himself too much to care that Robin still doesn't trust him not to go berserk during boardings. Like last time.

"Are we ready then?"

"Aye, Captain!"

Robin's eyes gleam again, and Olivia can't tell what colour they are. "Then let's give these mercs a reason never to come near our seas again!" She waits for the first approving roar to subside before adding, "And remember, the man with the necklace of fangs is  _ mine _ ."

* * *

The tattoo is right, but the rest of the man is not. It's someone else; like the men of the same ilk who'd come to Excellus's bar from time to time.

Still, the fact that she should find one such man here means that she has a chance to learn more. Her vengeance will have to wait, if only a little longer.

"Now then. We have a few questions for you, my good man. Up for a chat?" Gaius looks askance at her wife, searching for permission.

Robin nods. "Whatever it takes, Gaius."

Olivia doesn't like to think of this side of Gaius, the torturer in him, but it, like many other things about this life, is a necessary evil. She puts a hand on her friend’s arm and tries her best not to quiver as her eyes meet the tattooed man’s. "Are you part of a gang? A cult? Some strange sect of a dead religion?"

The man looks at her dumbly, the wicked curve of his grin the only indication that he hears her. Gaius's fist knocks a tooth from that stupid grin. Olivia turns to her wife, surprised to see her eyes are glowing golden again. Is she the only one who notices how the ship seems to roll on waves that weren't there before? "I believe my wife asked you a question. That necklace of fangs…it is a mark of belonging, I can see, but to what?"

Gaius punches the man again for his silence, his harshness so different from what she's used to. Olivia holds up a hand when he reaches for the dagger at his belt. "Let me try my way, Gaius." She can see that such a violent interrogation won't yield much, but most men can't quite resist her more… _ delicate _ tactics.

Robin must understand what it is she's going to try—perhaps it's in her eyes—and she only kisses Olivia deeply before beckoning Gaius out of the brig. Olivia watches them leave, waiting for the heavy thud of the door before she turns to the tattooed man. His face is bruised already, bloodied around the mouth. He watches her warily, and with a weary inward sigh she drudges up her charming smile; the one she's learned to wield as a weapon precisely for moments like this.

Yet another necessary evil.

The man's wary eyes narrow further with suspicion. She sighs a little more loudly; having to do this sort of thing rankles enough, but with such a stubborn individual, it's bound to feel like a chore. Still, beating it out of him was clearly not working, and she needs something,  _ anything _ to go off of at this point. She has not felt this close to revenge in years. This will not end without her satisfaction.

Her fans glitter as she begins to dance. He's going to tell her what he knows, whether he wants to or not.

  
  
  


* * *

"Carrion Isle ahead, Captain!" Henry calls from the crow's nest. Olivia tenses at her wife's side, and Robin steadies her with a firm arm around her waist.

"What fortifications?" Robin calls back.

"Cannons up in the main towers, most likely! Nothing to caws too much cawncern, I'd say."

"He only puns twice in one sentence when he's particularly confident," she notes, winning a smile from her wife.

"Aye, that he does, my love." Her wife sounds as if her thoughts are further away than normal, and when Olivia looks, Robin's eyes are golden again. It raises a question she's hand for a while now. The monster they'd captured along with the Yearling has been remarkably quiet, though Olivia has seen it on some nights; only ever when Robin is out on the deck.

It's a small matter, all things considered; if Robin is pactbound to the creature, it's better than it is worse. At the very least it means that the beast will target the island fortresses and not the Shattered Rose, though judging from Vaike's outburst at seeing it the crew may not be aware of this. Looking at the looming towers of Carrion Isle, she thinks the beast may even prove a blessing.

"What if he isn't here?"

She doesn't know why the thought enters her head, but it does, and she can't stop herself from saying it. Robin pulls her a little closer. "Then we'll find him wherever he may be." She shakes her head, and Olivia can't help but fall just a little more in love with her. "He cannot, will not elude us forever."

Tharja pops up, grinning mysteriously, as usual. "Patience, little birds. The one you seek hides among those great towers. Your vengeance calls you today." She sidles off again without looking at either of the even once.

"I've come to love her, but Tharja…is very strange."

"That's putting it lightly, my love."

She finds she has enough heart to laugh, which is good. "I'm a bit frightened. Those towers…" she shudders, unable to finish the thought. They remind her, for whatever reason, of dimly lit rooms and small spaces, of tears and pain and wanting to hide away, away.

"You needn't worry, my love. We shall prove more than a match for the blackguards within these walls." Robin scans the horizon, then snaps her fingers in such a way that Olivia is certain her wife is using magic. 

To summon the creature, perhaps?

Robin notices how focused she is. She turns, eyes half-golden in in the light. "…I was hoping you wouldn't figure it out before I could tell you. Though I suppose that was foolish, considering how clever you are." She sighs. "I hope you will forgive my dishonesty."

She shakes her head. "I do not count it as such, and so there can be no need for forgiveness." Olivia's heart warms at the smile on her wife's lips. "Besides…I get the feeling that your pact with that creature is rather its own cross to bear, as my revenge is to me." She takes her wife's hand, emboldened by the rapid approach of the shambles that make up the port of Carrion Isle. "I would share the weight of it, as you have done for me."

"Olivia, this is…" Robin trails off.

"Do  _ not _ say too dangerous. Do  _ not _ say too difficult. Please. Let me help you Robin, at least a little bit. I'm your  _ wife _ ."

"After, then," Robin says, in a voice that promises that they will truly speak, that she is not simply being appeased. "But first. We find him." Her eyes are fierce again, fluctuating between dark brown and gold so quickly that it's almost frightening. "Are you ready?"

"I have been ready, my love."

"Then let's find him."

A dragon's roars rend the air, and the siege of Carrion Isle begins.

  
  
  


It's him. The eyes are sharper, meaner somehow, and the hair is still red, still wild, but oily and unhealthy. The tattooed necklace of fangs stands out against his wasted, sagging skin. "You…I  _ know _ you."

"Do you recognize me?" She cannot manage more than an angry whisper. "Do you truly know who I am?"

Robin's sword nudges the knob in his neck, and he tries to back away with a jerk of his head. "Answer her."

"You…the brat from the village," he wheezes, and there's something almost maniacal in his voice. "Excellus must have made good coin off you, you pretty broken thing."

Olivia's knee-jerk reaction is to curl her hands into fists, and she thrusts her swords down, into the man's legs, to avoid injuring herself on accident. "I am not broken, nor am I a thing."

"Ah, but you were, once," he says, the whispers from his scratched throat unsettling in their sincerity. "Say what you like to yourself, but you were once little more than a toy for the pleasure of those with wealth. Power. To give yourself airs of some feigned importance now…how pathetic!"

"Quiet," she says, surprising herself with her own viciousness as she leans downward, against her blades, severing the muscles underneath. Ignoring his gulps of pain she leans in harder. "I have often wondered what I would do if ever I saw you again. Kill you, almost certainly. But now…" she falters, allowing all the rage, the horror of her life before Robin to emerge.

"Ha! Right," he says, spittle flying from his crazed mouth. The air is heavy, oppressive all around. Robin's dragon rips through the surrounding towers, agitated to match both herself and her wife. "You, little wench? You haven't the heart! Your whore here I could believe but—urk!"

She knows that a slap is hardly effective, but her body reacts to the slight against her wife immediately. "Don't you ever call her that."

Robin kisses her shoulder, and in a gentle, coaxing voice asks what she would like to do.

Kill him. That much is clear to her. But is that truly enough for her? There's a part of her, vindictive despite her otherwise gentle nature, that believes that to kill him would be unfair. To her. "I want him to suffer," she says, pulling her swords from his legs and pinning his shoulders down against the wooden board behind him when he makes a feeble attempt to take them from her.

"Grima may be able to help with that," Robin says, snapping her fingers. Olivia watches her wife's eyes brighten from dark brown to liquid gold as the dragon—Grima, she's called it—rises from the destroyed towers with an angry cry. The man shivers and shakes, and Olivia nods.

"How long might he last, if we give Grima leave to do as it likes?"

Robin shrugs. "Forever, or at least until this worthless sack of bones dies of the terror. Grima's amusement comes from playing with minds…"

"Then hear me, Grima," she calls out to the sky, "This man is yours. All I ask is that you show him even a taste of the anguish his actions led me to."

_ "But of course, milady," _ says a deep, dark voice in her head, and Olivia casts a glance at her wife. Robin nods. The man before them begins to cry, his face a mask of the most grotesque horror, and Olivia turns away. She does not care to see each pitiful expression on his face—she's seen them all before, on her own.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"So what will you do now?" Robin asks as they sail away from the ruined towers of Carrion Isle.

"Live my life, without anything holding me back," she says, firm in her conviction now that her need for vengeance has been sated. She turns to her wife, looking for any speck of gold she can find in those beloved spots of dark brown. "And I have a great many questions for you, Robin."

Her wife smiles. "Of course, my love. Whatever you want to know."

Under the light of the lanterns overhead, her eyes glitter.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: I wrote this for Fire Emblem Femslash week back in...March? For the free day. Then I kept on adding to it. And it became this. So there's that. Based partly off a prompt from Tin/WindStainedDreams, and also from my own obsession with writing pirates. I was also deep in Octopath Traveller, so if you noticed one of Olivia's lines seems sort of familiar (as well as the general conceit of her revenge arc), you know why!
> 
> Catch me [ or ](https://www.lazywritergirl.tumblr.com)[ send me a Tweet ](https://twitter.com/LWGKay)! I'm trying to be more active on both, so I'm going to start Tweeting about upcoming fic, or whatever, as well as maybe getting some polls up for future projects.
> 
> Anyway, that's Kay, out.


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